Fraudulent Lottery Drawing

Fraudulent activity also occurs via postal mail. If you receive a letter stating you won a lottery and a cashier’s check is enclosed for payment of a Processing Service Tax, more than likely it is a scam.

Here are samples of the most recent fraudulent letter and fraudulent check (Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat to view these documents). In this scam, the recipient is advised that they won a lottery or sweepstakes and the enclosed check is to cover the processing of the taxes. In order for the recipient to receive their “lottery” or “sweepstakes” money, they must contact the claim agent listed in the letter and submit a Money Gram or wire transfer to cover their taxes. Ultimately, the cashier’s check that was included in the letter is fraudulent, but the money the recipient sends is good funds drawn on their account. The scammers are hoping by the time the cashier’s check is returned as fraudulent, the money has already been wired to them.

If you receive these types of letters, please be careful especially if you have never initiated the contact. Many of these letters originate from outside of the United States and in this recent case, from Canada. For a list of other mail fraud schemes, visit the U.S. Postal Inspection’s secured site.